in order to violate your Constitutional Rights. The BATFE (that's ATF's new name) is conducting illegal background checks and sharing information of prospective gun buyers with their neighbors, friends, family, etc.

Nice - I'm sure we'll be able to just reign them in, right.

Don't worry, it's the government that's violating your rights, so it must be ok.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Protein and Evolution

Just so people don't think I'm talking out my ass (from the comments from the Subway post)... Just do a quick google search... While YOU (bob) may be able to get enough protein in your diet (questionable)with modern farming and a wide range of food. Primitive man's only source was from meat. The brain needs protein and fat. Man needed meat.

One of the best ways to stifle development is to deprive the body what it needs… Mine NEEDS dead animal (or human, I’m not picky).

I CAN NOT stress this enough. If you are not reading Michael Yon, you are wasting your time reading anything else.

Michael Yon is the reporter imbedded with our troops in Iraq that I have spoke of before and even donated money to. His last piece, “Gates of Fire,” shows me exactly what is wrong with most American journalists. Most of those low life pieces of shit don’t understand that they are Americans first and foremost. Michael understands that. He tells the good and the bad in Iraq, but he does it the way it should be told, honestly.

The actions Michael took to help his fellow Americans tells an outstanding tale of what it means to have your priorities straight. This is a man I would be so very proud to call a friend.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Why Subway and Quiznos Subs Suck

Why Subway and Quiznos Subs Suck

I can’t stand most corporate restaurants/fast food joints. But as a sandwich addict (I eat three a day) both Subway and Quizno’s Subs really irk me. According to my tongue and stomach, Subway and Quizno’s sandwich products are inferior to most Mom and Pop stores, yet, they are still immensely popular with the general public. What is the secret of their success? Good marketing, and ignorant consumers.

With 23,983 units and growing, Subway markets themselves as a healthier alternative to other fast food places. Take for instance their 6 grams of fat or less promotion, this encompasses most of Subway’s menu. Their mission to make their sandwiches under certain grams of fat however, comes at the expense of taste quality, specifically the sandwiches with deli meat.

The deli meats are sliced way too thin and therefore are unable to satisfy foodies such as myself. Don’t believe me? Next time you get a Subway sub, dissect it, hold one piece of lunch meat up to the light and examine how much light comes through. You will be amazed, and come to understand how the consumers are being skimmed.

The same case can be made for their bread, which is way too soft for a hoagie. The fluff of the roll can sometimes make the contents of the sandwich disappear. Subways have made steps to correct their roll quality by offering a variety of spicy breads, but that is kind of like pouring a whole bunch of black pepper into a bland tasting soup.

As for Quiznos Sub, my biggest beef with them, no pun intended, is their “steak and cheese” sandwiches. In the interest of fairness, they have recently switched to angus beef which is much better than their initial offering. In the past they were using roast beef meat and trying to pass it off as cheesesteak sandwich.

Understand that roast beef and sliced steak are two very different meat products. Roast beef is cheaper because it is a different cut of muscle and it retains water while being processed making it heavier after cooking. Since the processor’s roast beef product is gaining weight, even though it is water, they are able to charge a lesser rate. Where as the sliced steaks tend to be leaner and loses weight while being cooked, therefore yeilding less of a product, it is more expensive to produce.

Since Quiznos was using a roast beef product for their “steak and cheese” sandwich, I believe they were falsely advertising and ripping off the consumers. I have been so turned off by their roast beef stunt that I am not willing to give them a second chance on the angus beef sandwich. Not even Subway scooped this low. For all the bashing I did earlier of Subway, I give them some credit for at least using a steak product for their cheesesteaks, and FYI, one of their suppliers happens to be from Philadelphia which is a plus.

One last thing about Quiznos that pisses me off. The concept of a toasty sub is not original. I shutter to think that people believe that Quiznos is introducing a new concept. Every Mom and Pop shop in Philly and the surrounding suburbs makes them, and they are called GRINDERS. In fact a good grinder is prepared by separating the meat on one side, veggies on the other, and cheese covering over the top. This insures that everything gets cooked, and the cheese protects the delicate salad from being burned. If you watch a Quizno sub being made they put the veggies on after the sandwich passes through the oven. That may okay with some people, but I believe it robs the sandwich of its flavor, and goes against the traditional way of cooking a grinder.

Now that you have been enlightened, be mindful of where you buy your sandwiches. Tune in to my next column, when I discuss what separates a Philly Cheesesteak from all others.

Friday, August 19, 2005

This link is to a really freaking awesome website. Each week there is new episode where the host interviews a new guest. Standard talkshow format. The difference is that all the visuals are machinima, i.e. animation done with realtime computer models. In this case world is Halo online. Interviews are held while trying to keep other fellow players from killing the guests and the host.

The interviews are interesting and the weird shit going on in the background is even better.

The Man Code....

Pretty good set of rules... Though MOST men know these instinctivly, it's good to see them written down.

Otter

1. Thou shall not rent the movie "Chocolat"

2. Under no circumstances may 2 men share an umbrella.

3. Any man who brings a camera to a bachelor party may be legally killed and eaten by his fellow partygoers.

4. When you are queried by a buddy's wife, girlfriend, mother, father, priest, shrink, dentist, accountant, or dog walker, you need not and should not provide any useful information whatsoever as to his whereabouts. You are permitted to deny his very existence.

5. Unless he murdered someone in your immediate family, you must bail a friend out of jail within 12 hours.

6. You may exaggerate any anecdote told in a bar by 50 percent without recrimination; beyond that, anyone within earshot is allowed to call BULLSHIT . (Exception: When trying to pick up a girl, the allowable exaggeration rate rises to 400 percent)

7. If you've known a guy for more than 24 hours, his sister is off-limits forever.

8. The minimum amount of time you have to wait for another guy who's running late is 5 minutes. For a girl, you are required to wait 10 minutes for every point of hotness she scores on the classic 1-10 babe scale.

9. Complaining about the brand of free beer in a buddies refrigerator is forbidden. You may gripe if the temperature is unsuitable.

10. No man is ever required to buy a birthday present for another man. In fact, even remembering a friends birthday is strictly optional and slightly gay.

11. Agreeing to distract the ugly friend of a hot babe that your buddy is trying to hook up with is your legal duty. Should you get carried away with your good deed and end up having sex with the beast, your pal is forbidden to speak of it, even at your bachelor party.

12. Before dating a buddy's "ex", you are required to ask his permission and he in return is required to grant it.

13. Women who claim they "love to watch sports" must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to pick a buffalo wing clean.

14. If a man's zipper is down, that's his problem, you didn't see nothin'.

15. The universal compensation for buddies who help you move is beer.

16. A man must never own a cat or like his girlfriend's cat.

17. When stumbling upon other guys watching a sports event, you may always ask the score of the game in progress, but you may never ask who's playing.

18. When your girlfriend/wife expresses a desire to fix her whiney friend up with your pal, you may give her the go-ahead only if you'll be able to warn your buddy and give him time to prepare excuses about joining the priesthood.

19 . It is permissible to consume a fruity chick drink only when you're sunning on a tropical beach... and it's delivered by a topless supermodel... and it's free.

20. Unless you're in prison, never fight naked.

21. A man in the company of a hot, suggestively dressed woman must remain sober enough to fight.

22. If a buddy is outnumbered, out manned, or too drunk to fight, you must jump into the fight. Exception: If within the last 24 hours his actions have caused you to think, "What this guy needs is a good ass-whoopin", then you may sit back and enjoy.

23. Phrases that may NOT be uttered to another man while weight lifting:"Yeah, baby, push it!""C'mon, give me one more! Harder!""Another set and we can hit the showers.""Nice ass, are you a Sagittarius?"

24. Never hesitate to reach for the last beer or the last slice of pizza, but not both. That's just plain mean.

25. If you compliment a guy on his six-pack, you better be referring to his beer.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Mayor of Nagasaki is bitching about the US and our continued stance on nuclear deterrence. He bitches and complains that by haven Nukes we are making the world a more dangerous place. He fails to mention though, that since we took up that policy we haven’t had to nuke anyone else since then.

Pretty funny article, but it leaves out whole categories of friends that you need on campus. Suffice it to say, you could definitely survive with this friend dispersal pattern, but with a few additions, your experience can be oh so rich.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Weekend Part 1 - Traffic, cheese steaks and some folks from LA

I feel the need to post something, though I don’t feel rather angry, or creative, or anything else at the moment. So I’m going to recount my weekend, it was a good one…. In two parts.

To start off I have to say I had a really busy weekend. Started Thursday actually, with more martinis than I (or most people) ever really needed. Friday, an after work beer turned into something significantly more than that. Saturday I headed up to Philly.

This weekend my very good friend got married to an absolutely wonderful woman (if you must know, it was the PCSB). Saturday, the rehearsal dinner was opened up to all out of town guests. Extended open bar, good food and good company made the night.

However, I was late. The God damn traffic was stupid insane for a Saturday. Where were all the traffic jams located? At toll booths. Why? Well because my tax money goes to fund such a stupid large amount of crap that useful things like roads and the military are constantly under funded. Thanks liberals, commies, and generally worthless people. Because of you, I was late.

Even late it was a nice event. I even heard some very good news at the table, it seems a new energy bill has been passed and one of the key components is an end to boutique fuels. Yeah common sense. Yeah supply and demand. Yeah lower fuel costs. I had a good time (despite the NY and Boston baseball fans I sat next to).

From the rehearsal dinner I drove to my friends house, parked, and then went to the restaurant where he manages the bar. Expensive beer and Margaritas lead to more beer and Margaritas that lead to the most foo-foo appetizer I have ever had (3 forks worth of “crab quesadillas”). I guess someone has to pay for the $16,000 gold plated non-functional lowered bicycle they had on display (complete with airbrushed pictures of De La Hoya).

Though the place wasn’t necessarily my kind of place, sitting next to me, I had the great pleasure of meeting a couple of people from LA. I have to say, it’s not often I can say something nice about the left coast but I really had some fun talking with them (plus the young lady was so insanely attractive). As always I seem to meet the best people at bars. Smart and friendly. We hung out, talked about Middle Eastern current affairs, The Dandy Warhols, local music scenes and other things. I had a great time.

After I parted from my new friends I headed back to the restaurant and waited until my friend closed the place down. 4 am is a little late for me these days. Especially late with at-least-a-bakers dozen worth of drinks in me (the LA crew knew how to roll, it would have been more but the bars closed all around us).

Anyway, I fell down a stair or two and messed up my ankle.

So we get back to my friends place and put on a Firefly. I must of only lasted 10 minutes in. I crashed about quarter to five.

Of coarse I wake up at about 9:45 in the morning. Damn programmed sleep patterns. Cleaned up my friends computer. Installed Firefox.